Survey for the elaboration of the implementation programme of the action plan on human rights defenders on environmental matters

The coordinators of the Working Group have prepared a programme proposal to implement the regional action plan, which defines each priority area and strategic measure of the Plan, as well as its concrete activities and products. We invite you to participate in the questionnaire and provide feedback on the proposed activities with suggestions and input. 

Your support for the implementation of the plan is essential! 

1.      Background:

Decision III/2 of the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Escazu Agreement adopted the Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean. To facilitate its implementation, it also decided to maintain, until the close of the ordinary meeting of the COP to be held in 2030, the open-ended ad hoc working group on human rights defenders in environmental matters (or working group), which shall allow for meaningful public participation, especially by Indigenous peoples and local communities, endeavouring to include persons or groups in a vulnerable situation. This working group has a new mandate: to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the measures included in the Action Plan and to report to the Conference of the Parties.

The decision invites the Parties and all-region countries to help implement the Action Plan and to step up their efforts to develop and strengthen all necessary measures at the national level. It requests the Secretariat to promote and facilitate, in collaboration with relevant organizations, activities to enhance the implementation of the Action Plan and progress towards achieving its objectives at the regional, subregional and national levels.

The Action Plan, in its priority area D on evaluation, follow-up and review, states that within the framework of the institutional architecture of the Agreement, a programme for the implementation of the action plan will be developed, which will consider, among other factors, responsibilities, deadlines and possible sources of support.

The coordinators of the Working Group prepared a programme proposal that defines under each priority area and strategic measures of the Plan, the deliverables (concrete activities or products), responsibilities for implementation (including main responsible and possible collaborators), timeframes in which they will be implemented (continuously until 2030, in the short term, i.e. between 2025 and 2026, in the medium term i.e. between 2027 and 2028, or the long term i.e. between 2029 and 2030), and the level of application (regional, national, federal, subnational or local).

It should be noted that the activities and products of the Action Plan to be applied at the regional and national levels consider the 2025, 2027 and 2029 Forums, as well as the meetings of the Conference of the Parties in 2026, 2028 and 2030 (or COP4, COP5 and COP6, respectively) as relevant milestones for its implementation.

Finally, the definition of the present implementation program draft has been elaborated based on the dialogue held by the open-ended ad hoc Working Group with the Presiding Officers and the elected representatives of the public.

DOWNLOAD HERE THE IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM PROPOSAL

1.      Instructions

• Please read the Action Plan and its implementation programme before completing the survey for an informed contribution.
• The Action Plan aims to highlight a set of priority areas and implement strategic measures to advance towards the full and effective implementation of Article 9 of the Escazú Agreement. We also recommend reviewing the Agreement's text before completing the survey and the explanations developed in the ECLAC Implementation Guide for the Agreement.
• En primer lugar, se solicita responder preguntas preliminares con fines estadísticos, así como una pregunta general sobre la valoración del programa de implementación. Luego encontrará preguntas específicas para la implementación de cada uno de los cuatro ejes del plan y sus respectivas acciones.
• First, you are asked to answer preliminary questions for statistical purposes and a general question on the assessment of the implementation program. Then, you will find specific questions for implementing each of the four areas of the plan and their respective actions.
• Please refer to the proposed deliverables for each action, i.e. specific activities or outputs.
• Depending on your preference, you can answer one, some or all of the questions in the questionnaire.
• The approximate time to answer the survey is 20-30 minutes.
• You can answer this survey from January 17th, 2025, to March 3rd, 2025, until 23:59 Santiago de Chile time (UTC-3).
• Subsequently, the results and comments will be analyzed and consolidated by the coordinators of the Working Group to prepare a final proposal for the Implementation Program to be presented at the Third Forum on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters to be held April 7-10, 2025 in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
• PERSONAL DATA WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED